Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. It was founded on rented premises in 1942, and grew to meet the needs of returning World War II veterans and later became Ontario's first private, non-denominational college. It would expand further in the 1960s, consistent with government policy that saw increased access to higher education as a social good and means to economic growth. Carleton is a public university that offers more than 65 academic programs across a wide range of disciplines. Carleton is reputed for its strength in a variety of fields, such as engineering, industrial design, humanities, international business and many of the disciplines housed in its Faculty of Public Affairs (including international affairs, journalism, political science, political economy, political management, public policy and administration, and legal studies).
It is named after the former Carleton County, Ontario, which included the city of Ottawa at the time Carleton was founded. Carleton County, in turn, was named in honour of Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, an early Governor-General of British North America. As of 2016, Carleton has enrollment of more than 22,000 undergraduate and more than 3,000 postgraduate students.Its campus is located west of Old Ottawa South, within close proximity to The Glebe and Confederation Heights, and is bounded to the north by the Rideau Canal and Dow's Lake and to the south by the Rideau River.The university is represented in U Sports by the Carleton Ravens.